Following the marathon races at the 1972 Munich Olympics, a number of shorter running events were held in the city every year. An annual marathon was established in 1983 by Michael Schultz-Tholen's company (FVS) and was later jointly organised with the Munich Road Runners Club. The marathon followed the same course as the 1972 Olympic race, beginning in Coubertinplatz in Olympic Park Munich and finishing the last 300 Meters to the finish line in Olympic Stadium.[1] The competition featured nearly 2000 finishers at its inaugural event and this quickly grew, reaching to over 6500 by the late 1980s. As well as the mass race, it attracted high level international competitors in elite races. Participation had a sudden decline after 1990 – going from 6340 finishers that year to 3360 six years later.[2] This change resulted in the eventual bankruptcy of the parent company and its president Schultz-Tholen (who was a polo specialist with limited prior experience in the sector).

The race was relaunched in 2000 on a course outside the inner city, but its popularity returned only when the competition returned to the city streets and the Olympic stadium. Over five thousand people finished the race in 2001.[3] The race established itself among Germany's largest footraces and had a record high of 9041 marathon finishers in 2004. The 2006 event featured was the official German Marathon Championship race and Matthias Körner and Carmen Siewert were declared the men's and women's champions, respectively.[1]

The course records over the entire history of the city's marathons are held by Michael Kite of Kenya (2:09:46 hours in 2000) and Hungary's Karolina Szabó (2:33:09 hours in 1991).[1]